[h2]Hello everybody![/h2] It was difficult choosing the right topic for this devlog as there has been a plethora of changes and additions in recent months. Traffic has been improved, UI overhauled, more animations added, even the patients and the pedestrians are in the middle of a graphical upgrade right now. But perhaps the most significant change is what we did to the ambulance and the city itself, so let's talk about that! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33625049/1132b2ab1980b45e4ff28575f9d645c7ec8dd544.gif[/img] As you can see on the gif above, the ambulance looks drastically different from before. We added more detail, especially on the inside. Simultaneously, we optimized the vehicle to squeeze out a few more frames per second in your game. The ambulance is now also equipped with a[b] stretcher auto-loader[/b]. We're currently unsure if this should be an upgrade that players unlock during gameplay or something that is always available. The auto-loader is very convenient so we're considering the latter option. But if you have a different opinion then let us know in the comments! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33625049/e40189ebf6dc67f18cdee74b2a40c989f9cf8f54.png[/img] Meanwhile, our town grew to a massive size. It's quite formidable, with [b]dozens [/b]of different roads and [b]hundreds [/b]of buildings. We made sure that our city is not one of those soulless, game-y areas where every block is a rectangle and every crossing is a right angle. We have changes in elevation, a good mix of two- and one-way roads, plenty of turns, and unusual shortcuts. The town is not yet finished. The outskirts still have missing roads and buildings. And the downtown area still needs more love in the form of additional details and more polish. It's playable and looks good, it just needs a bit more love before we're satisfied. Our work is even more challenging because we have to keep things optimized. At the moment, we have fairly simplistic building geometry, meaning that they are relatively flat. As our FPS count increases, we will upgrade these structures, up to a point that we deem feasible in terms of graphical fidelity and performance. It's just how it is with big, open worlds. It's safer to first create a fully functional, optimized, and simplistic city, and then to make it prettier based on the performance. Another big part of creating a [b]living city[/b] is the traffic. We're setting it up very carefully and look for any tricky crossings where the AI gets into car accidents too often. Right now we have an AI that drives competently and pedestrians that sometimes gather into groups to have a conversation on a sidewalk. It creates a sense of being a part of something more as you drive around the town. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33625049/52b9ebafb65d76046d2831c9794ef4cb5f13e152.gif[/img] You might be wondering, when are we going to let you check it all out. We did start the sign-ups for the playtest after all. Well, there's been a small change of plans. After some small-scale testing, we decided to iron out the playtest demo a bit more before we invite more players in. As such, we need a few more weeks to make sure that everything is good enough for the playtest. So the playtest is still on. We're going to invite people in once [b]new gameplay elements[/b] are implemented and additional polish is applied. We'll keep you posted! Thank you for your support and enthusiasm. We're working very hard to make our game realistic, fun, and educational. Soon, you will have an opportunity to tell us if we're on the right track! If you want to chat with fellow gamers, here's a link to our official Discord: [url=https://discord.gg/wnX4tvhASg]https://discord.gg/wnX4tvhASg[/url] Best regards, Image Power team https://store.steampowered.com/app/942220/Ambulance_Simulator/